//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The God of Shipping // by cattoy10 //------------------------------// It was a peaceful late winter day. February to be exact and the winter had just been wrapped up. Everypony in Ponyville had their hooves filled with work and all were busy. Exept for a certain draconequus, who was hanging upside-down from his thinking tree, bored out of his guts. The main thought running through his head was how boring being reformed was. He missed his freedom and his chaos, and now, with the elements gone, he was free to do anything! But he had to admit, that he valued Fluttershy's friendship too much to dissapoint her or the other main 5. The thought of having friends gave him a sort of a nice, tingly feeling in his belly, especially with his favourite of them all; Flutter-Butter, as he sometimes called her. It felt odd, but also really good. He enjoyed her company the most because she was always kind and full of surprises. And not the Pinkie Pie kind of surprises with streamers and rubber chickens, wich she had been very fond of lately, but surprises in her personality and talents, that many don't know of. Also, messing with Angel was fun. With that thought, he knew where he'd be spending his day. There was a bright flash, and he was gone, about to jump out of a certain pony's teapot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fluttershy had just woken up to the bright shine of sunlight. She slowly got out of bed, enjoying the lasting warmth of her sheets. She stretched and yawned lazily and brushed her mane. She trotted downstairs were she was rudely greeted by a hungry Angel Bunny. He threw an empty bowl in front of her hooves, crossing his paws over his chest. "Good morning Angel. Are you hungry?" Angel rolled his eyes and pointed towards the kitchen. "Alright, hold on a minute." She said stepping in the kitchen. "A fruit salad?" Angel thought for a second, tapping his leg on the floor and then nodded. She took out some apples, pears, mangos and grapes, slicing them all and setting them in a small blue bowl. She mixed the salad and handed it to Angel, who dived right in. Fluttershy herself took out her tea set, placed it on the table, and heated some water. She was in the mood for fruits so she took a pack of fruit tea from her cupboard and poured the already boiling water in the teapot. The birds were outside, humming beautiful tunes and bathing in the warmth of the sun. It looked so peaceful today, so she decided to have her tea and breakfast outside. She sat down at the table near her henhouse, humming the same tune as the birds. She took her cup, which had little pink roses painted on it. Fluttershy had gotten it last year, as a birthday present, along with other things from her best friends. She poured herself some tea, eyes closed to enjoy the warm sunlight on her cheeks, but it felt like none of the liquid filled her cup. She opened her eyes only to see Discord's head and torso come out from the teapot instead of her tea. She fell to the ground with a small yelp, dropping the pot and her cup on the table. "Good morning, my dear." He greeted, twisting himself fully out of the teapot, picking Fluttershy off the ground with his tail and setting her back on the chair. He took the seat opposite from her and summonned a pink cup wich had a picture of him and his best friend, Fluttershy. "Good morning, Discord." Her face lit up at the sight of her friend. "Care for a cup of tea?" "Of course! Although I do prefer chocolate milk. But tea is fine too, thank you." She poured them both a cup of steaming hot fruit tea. "You didn't burn yourself, did you? The tea in the teapot was pretty hot when you crawled out of it." He waved a paw dismissively, "Don't worry, my dear. I'm The Master of chaos, such things don't affect me." "Well, you did get sick once, so I thought you get hurt as easily too. You're still a normal living being." "Fluttershy, nothing about me is normal." He looked more serious than usual, but because he didn't want her to worry much, he added, rather lightly, "Don't fret, I don't get hurt as long as I'm careful. And I'm always careful." He said, striking a regal pose. "Always?" she asked, unamused. "Okay, maybe not always." He took a sip of his tea, which had turned blue for some reason. "Anyways, how has my bestest friend of all time been doing?" He asked, snapping his fingers, making a '#1 BFF' cap appear ontop of Fluttershy's head and small fireworks go off behind her. She blushed a little, but it was hardly noticable. "I've been doing fine, thank you. And it seems you're feeling better too. That was a nasty illness you had a little while back." "Yes, it was rather awful. The worst part was staying in bed for weeks." He summoned a bed which he fell to, a thermometer in his mouth and a paw placed on his forehead for a dramatic affect. "Luckly, you were there, so it wasn't that bad." He said, making the bed dissapear and eating the thermometer. Fluttershy smiled and continued on the conversation," So, what brings you here, Discord?" "Just here to visit you and mess with your friends." He said taking a sip of his tea, wich had turned purple. She took his paw gently in her hooves. He slightly flinced at the action, but didn't pull back. "Discord, they're your friends too. " She had a look of sympathy in her eyes. They just sat there for a moment, paws and hooves intertwined. "It might not seem, that they like you, but they'll warm up to you, learn to trust you." The warm fuzzy moment made Discord feel a bit awkward. He still wasn't quite used to all this lovey-dovey stuff. A little over a year ago, he would have just gagged at the situation, but now, it felt sort of nice to know that somepony cares about him. "You'll see. Soon, they won't be able to live without you." Discord cleared his troat and looked at her, then his paw and back and forth between her and the paw she was holding. Fluttershy soon noticed what he was imlpying to and quickly drew her hooves back. "Oh, um....sorry, I forgot I was...oh dear." She blushed, massively. He just chuckled at her actions. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see." He added and summoned a spoon, to eat his tea, wich had turned into a cake of some sort. "Got anything special planned for today?" "Oh, well, I just woke up so I haven't really thought about what I'll do today. But after I've finished my tea, I need to feed the animals and sweep the floors of the cottage. Umm...an hour before noon, I'll meet up with Rarity for our spa day..." She got interrupted by Discord, who wore a towel on his head, some kind of a spa mask on his face and pickles covering his eyes. "Mind if I join you ladies? It's been eons since my last spa treatment and my skin is getting a little dry" He said, eating the pickles off his face. Fluttershy giggled, covering her mouth with her hoof, "I'm sorry Discord, but as fun as that would be, I don't think Rarity would approve. It's sort of a 'girls only' thing for her. But we can go one day, if you'd like?" "Splendid!" He clapped his paw and claw together. "Oh, where was I before? Oh yea, I'll borrow a book from Twilight so I'll drop by at the library, get some things from the market and I must see Roseluck too." She thought for a moment before adding a simple "I think that's it." "You always have so much to do," he whined. "Why don't you ponies ever have days off? Are holidays the only times you haven't got anything to do?" She nodded as he continued. "Everypony is always so busy. I have to study" He made the colours of his body match Twilight's coat and mane, "I've got to buck apples" He said with a southern accent, his coat turning orange and yellow. "I've got to make dresses" He looked and spoke like Rarity,"I need a nap" , now he was Raibow Dash. All of that nonsense actually made Fluttershy laugh uncontrollably. She lost it when he was doing his Rarity impression. Discord soon joined in with the pegasus, who was grasping her stomach, and fell to the ground. They just laughed for a while, until Angel came hopping towards the two, a pocketwatch in his paws. He tugged at Fluttershy's mane until he got her attention. "What is it, dear?" He gave her the pocketwatch and jumped around, waving his paws. She looked at it, suprised, "oh, no! I'm going to be late for the spa day! Oh dear" She set the watch on the table, and picked up her teapot and cup. She rushed inside, with Discord slowly following her, a polka dotted Angel hanging upside-down from his paw. She placed the tea set in the sink and flew upstairs, combed her mane and took some bits with her, before rushing out the door again. She noticed Discord standing on the bridge in front of her cottage and an angry Angel bunny with a tutu, hopping towards her cottage. "Time flies, doesn't it?" He said as the pocketwatch Fluttershy had left on the table sprouted wings and flew inside her cottage. "Oh, Discord, I'm really sorry, but I promised Rarity and I really don't want her to wait and..." "Don't worry about it. I was on my way to irritate...I mean 'visit' Twilight anyway, so I guess I'll see you later?" She smiled as she flew up and wrapped her hooves around him. He still wasn't quite used to all the hugging these ponies do, but he returned it anyways. "We'll talk later for sure." She said as she broke out of the hug and flew towards Ponyville. "Wait, before you go! When's the next holiday?" He asked "Hmm...I think Hearts and Hooves day is in a week." She replied "But, I really must hurry so, bye!" She waved him goodbye, wich he replied to, but his thoughts had already drifted away. "Hearts and Hooves day, hmm?" he though out loud to himself. "This gives me an idea, " he said, chuckling deviously.